Usually the Board represents the top shareholders, who invest in the company and aren't "hired", they're putting up the money. Early on it's the founders who control the board and in turn the company, with VCs getting seats and possibly veto power on certain issues etc. If you're actually referring to an Advisory Board, those advisors will work for a few hours a month for a few percent to a few tenths of a percent of the company. They're not going to do anything meaningful hands on, do sales for you, code for you, or be anything like a team member...more like a strategic consultant that doesn't execute. They're almost always successful and financially secure..who else works for shares only (aka lottery tickets in a startup)? A co founder can actually execute and is committed to the company with a much bigger interest in changing their own life.

. It is true VCs can divide co founders but I haven't seen it happen, they do a good job dividing themselves in my experience. But to a VC it is helpful if another founder can take the reigns...when you invest in one person, it is a risk. They can get hit by a bus (never seen that), have kids and totally check out (seen that), do too much ketamine and get weird and make bad decisions (seen that). Im

That's totally right in my experience. It's rare one founder has all the skills necessary and there's often a need for a second person to complement them. Perhaps one founder is focused on product and sales and the other on technical and team management. It's rare to find a single person who can wear fundraising, public relations, sales, marketing, operations and technical hats. At an early phase, much of these functions have to be founder led and you can't easily nor affordably hire out for them.

I am a Baron of Sealand and received my letters patent around 20 years ago, for the low low price of 50 something dollars. In order for Sealand to be secure, my fellow nobles and I must beseech the King to provide for Sealand's defence, as in its current state it may be conquered by a dozen people on a powerboat, making, it less favorable for a confidential data center than let's say Iceland.

Slashdot might be the last place someone with Asperger's/tourettes/bitter resentment causing him to curse and insult every random person doesn't end up booted or at least shadow banned. I agree, unless he has multiple personalities few companies would tolerate his level of arrogant ignorance and toxicity...so him calling everyone else fake is likely projection.

Your hubris is so great you accuse two longtime Slashdot posters of making stuff up but won't put up a real wager, because behind your troll facade you know you're probably wrong. Otherwise you'd jump at the opportunity to cash in on your "insights". My insight is because of your toxic communication style you've gotten stuck in your career and have to convince yourself others are lying to avoid reconciling your comparative failure. You also claim your company pays top five percent but would pay a DevOps Engineer 60k -- today a tier 1 helpdesk salary. So either you're making stuff up or you are stuck at a crap-paying company that puts up with your attitude because they pay so poorly. I feel sorry for your reports and hires, if they even exist.

There's only going to be a handful of people who benefit greatly in an exit event. So it narrows it down to about a dozen people. But for 10k....

Sorry, no something for nothing here or free doxxing, you'll have to put your money where your mouth is. You're also so out of touch you think 60k is a salary I'd ever have earned. The lowest I had was around 120k, in 2010 or so, and that didn't last long. If you look at more recent posts they display a knowledge of the tax code only relevant to someone who has had major capital gains...

I think you have all the tells of hubris and also poor reading comprehension. Maybe this is why you have a hard time hiring younger people...who might well be smarter and more capable.

You mean the past posts that chronicle my journey from working-class kid to startup engineer to startup VP to retiree? I mean if you have an escrow betting service and you'd like to wager, I'm happy to put $10k down (in ETH) and have a neutral third party verify my identity. But that's going to be a fast way for you to lose 10k.

Yes! I used to have one of those up until about 2017. Five years later, I had an exit event. If you look at my post history I was also talking about that startup. My paid-for house has great views of the SF Bay.

I'd argue when your investments can return more than you'd make if you get a job, without touching principal, retirement is logical...unless you want to do the startup thing again and hope for another exit. I have to say retiring young is pretty awesome. If you keep going, you run the risk of becoming a bitter, old person who dismisses people who have done better than them.

I think your tendency to dismiss a correct answer in favor of your boomer-dated terminology shows your own limited worldview. I'm sure the finest engineers line up to be hired and managed by you with your pleasant demeanor. In my "limited" worldview (spanning numerous startups and exits!), startups wouldn't tolerate such a toxic manager because top talent wouldn't put up with it.

On the contrary, I'm one of those people who worked at startups and eventually had a huge exit. I'm retired now. I retired before age 40. Working "with" these companies you don't get an internal view of hiring, firing and reasons why people leave, this is often hidden for optics. Maybe you're still working because of your pleasant demeanor calling anyone who has first hand experience that contradicts you is "full of shit".

Ok, boomer. I'm sure you're "forced," as an old hat with a low Slashdot number, to hire people closer to your age. Meanwhile, I retired 17 years after graduating. Maybe if you're still working you need to "get good" so you can fatFIRE with the real good ones.

I think you shouldn't be persnickety about other people's terms when you use the wrong ones yourself.. an SE is a Sales Engineer! You're talking about a software engineer, an SWE. Do you even tech?